New

It’s 1970s Winnipeg—a time of revolution and radical possibilities—and an apartment building of Indian immigrant friends is about to be transformed by their latest arrival. A young Bengali Muslim woman, Nuzha, has just married Qasim over the phone at his mother’s insistence, and can’t wait to start her new life with him. But Qasim struggles to let go of his true love, a Canadian nurse named Abby, making him an emotionally and physically distant husband. Broken-hearted but full of pluck, Nuzha finds comfort and adventures on her own terms by exploring everything her new community has to offer. From braving the bus schedule to building close relationships with Qasim’s friends, Nuzha’s discoveries are thrilling, enriching, and crack open new possibilities for everyone.

From the creator of the powerful solo show Crash, Pamela Mala Sinha’s New is an evocative, emotionally astute comedy about the complex nature of love and sacrifice, joyful togetherness and piercing loneliness, and what it means to create entirely new ways of life through our willingness to tread uncharted territory.

• Comedy! Not just in laughs but in structure!
• About marriage and an almost irreverent look at the Immigrant experience.
• Honours previous generations of immigrants as young, fun, sexy, and complicated.
• Strong appeal to 60-70something generation but also to their kids and younger.
• Joyous, hopeful, surprise ending about the complex nature of love and the meaning of freedom.
• First-wave feminism / 1970s.
• Most of the characters work in academia.
• Not just an "Indian' story but one that explores universal themes of being "new."
• Necessary Angel Theatre Company in association with Canadian Stage and the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre: RMTC November 2–19, 2022, and Canadian Stage April 25–May 14, 2023.